Captain Bacardi
Well-Known Member
Andy Armer, who co-wrote "Rise" with Randy "Badazz" Alpert, has a new record company called Microscope Records. Here's a story from his Oregon hometown paper, the Bend-Bulletin:
Under the Microscope
Andy Armer, Microscope Records founder and producer, left, at his studio in Bend on Monday with Shane Cook, artist and manager of repertoire/promotions for the record company. The company provides an alternative for local artists, they said.
Andy Armer founded Microscope Records in Bend in June with Shane Cook and backing from a silent partner, Armer and Cook said. Armer was nominated for a Grammy in 1979 for the song ‘Rise,' which he wrote for ‘60s trumpeter and recording mogul Herb Alpert.
He played piano on the recording, co-published it with A&M Records and produced it.
Cook has been performing music in clubs for the last 15 years, starting at age 13.
He toured the West Coast with Bend-based rock band Simonsomething from 2000 through 2003.
We talked with Armer and Cook Monday about the their record company.
How did you start Microscope Records?
Armer: I moved here in 1995 from Los Angeles and met our silent partner in the business.
He came to me for banjo lessons and we played golf.
I'm a music educator. I do youth jazz workshops and I worked with his kids as they were going through high school. We recorded a band.
One of his kids was in the band, and we thought, 'Hey—.' So I'm taking a year off (from teaching music) to focus on the business.
You were nominated for a Grammy in 1979 for the song 'Rise,' which you wrote for Herb Alpert. Can you elaborate on that?
Armer: It was an instrumental that was number one around the world.
Only a handful of instrumentals get that popular.
It was for Herb Alpert's big comeback.
I wrote several more for him that he recorded with his A&M label, which stood for Alpert and Moss.
They were very powerful. That was the golden age of the '60s and '70s.
It all changed in the '80s. In '82, with the recession, the industry started changing and it has changed ever since. Alpert and Moss were the last of the independent record companies. They've all been gobbled up by lawyers and accountants.
(Alpert and Moss) wielded enormous power.
Microscope Records hosted a party during the Bend Film Festival. Can you discuss how that was related to your business?
Armer: It was really good for us. We hosted the party for festival attendees before the awards ceremony.
It was a great party and we're doing business with some people from there.
What is the current focus of your business?
Armer: We're focused on getting our synchronization or 'sync' license that allows us to put a song in a movie, on cable, the Internet, any media. As Shane likes to say, we're building our business song by song rather than making full CDs, which can be an expensive proposition.
How big is the business?
Cook: By next summer we plan to represent 20 to 30 acts - solo and full bands. That is what is in our business plan. We have five to 10 now. I get about five or 10 demos a week.
What is the process of an act going from submitting a demo to signing a contract?
Cook: In the music community, we all keep in contact. With something new, someone who knows someone who knows someone and it's not long before it's on the East Coast. Nothing stays secret.
It doesn't operate like any other business. There is no book or proven method. The success stories are all different.
There is no course you can take in record-label management. (A demo that arrived today) could be in a movie by Wednesday, honestly. Or we could be working on it in the studio for six months.
Armer: You do it from a street level on up. The risk and reward factors are great.
We might as well be better off with pick axes and mules and mining for gold in the mountains. But this can happen. We can get a song into a film or develop an artist over three to five years and sign a six-figure deal. We are planning for success. We are not hoping it happens. With the experience that I have in the industry, Shane's background and our funding, we have as good a shot as any label in the world.
We have contacts in L.A., Nashville, New York and Europe and close friends whose full-time job is nothing but getting songs in films.
Where do you work?
Armer: I have a studio in my home but plan to move it to a commercial location. The most important thing is a good set of ears.
How do you know what is a good demo?
Armer: It's that magic. What gives you goosebumps — what makes you shiver — what makes the hair stand up on your arms. Shane is in his 20s, I'm in my 40s and our partner is in his 50s and that has its advantages. With a song, the story always comes first. If it's live and you can't hear the lyrics, you have to ask the artist, 'What's the story here? What are you singing about?'
How do you keep in touch with new music?
Armer: I could go downtown to the weirdest looking punk and ask him to name five things he's listening to and go to i-Tunes and and download them.
There are charts and reports online.
I can go to Barnes and Noble and get Billboard, Spin or Maxim Blender, a teen music magazine.
What are some of the long-term benefits of creating something as popular as 'Rise?'
Armer: Five or 10 years after it, nobody cared about it, but in 1995, rappers and hip-hop artists started sampling 'Rise.'
Just as with sounds and production styles, production techniques from back then are being used again. Artists pay $100,000 to $500,000 for a sample, and for a number-one song like ‘Rise' it's even more.
Puff Daddy, who now calls himself P. Diddy, sampled 'Rise.' I think the biggest reason that young rappers and hip-hop artists are sampling recordings from the ‘60s and ‘70s is because the drumbeat was done by a real drummer, playing a $10,000 drum kit into $60,000 microphone setup with one of the 10 best engineers in the world. Then, in the late '80s and '90s, there were the computerized drum machines and MIDI technology and when the fascination with that was over, people were searching Salvation Army stores for old vinyl.
Cook: Back in the day, people were spending one or two years in the studio getting things perfect.
Armer: You would spend three or four days just working on getting the snare sound right, until it was perfect.
What niche do you see the company filling in the next five or 10 years?
Armer: We're looking to do this a long time. We want to work with artists to make them viable and avoid the pitfalls. (Artists) can stay here after high school. They can say, 'Here's an entity I can work with,' and stay with their families and go to (Central Oregon Community College). They don't have to cross the mountains to all the sharks and maybe avoid those experiences.
Then when they are 20 or 22 they'll be 10 steps ahead of the others there who are saying, 'OK, now what do I do?'
That affects artists of all ages, especially young ones. We can help bring them success. And if they are successful, we'll be too
Andy has his own site at www.rotation.com.
Capt. Bacardi
Under the Microscope
Andy Armer founded Microscope Records in Bend in June with Shane Cook and backing from a silent partner, Armer and Cook said. Armer was nominated for a Grammy in 1979 for the song ‘Rise,' which he wrote for ‘60s trumpeter and recording mogul Herb Alpert.
He played piano on the recording, co-published it with A&M Records and produced it.
Cook has been performing music in clubs for the last 15 years, starting at age 13.
He toured the West Coast with Bend-based rock band Simonsomething from 2000 through 2003.
We talked with Armer and Cook Monday about the their record company.
How did you start Microscope Records?
Armer: I moved here in 1995 from Los Angeles and met our silent partner in the business.
He came to me for banjo lessons and we played golf.
I'm a music educator. I do youth jazz workshops and I worked with his kids as they were going through high school. We recorded a band.
One of his kids was in the band, and we thought, 'Hey—.' So I'm taking a year off (from teaching music) to focus on the business.
You were nominated for a Grammy in 1979 for the song 'Rise,' which you wrote for Herb Alpert. Can you elaborate on that?
Armer: It was an instrumental that was number one around the world.
Only a handful of instrumentals get that popular.
It was for Herb Alpert's big comeback.
I wrote several more for him that he recorded with his A&M label, which stood for Alpert and Moss.
They were very powerful. That was the golden age of the '60s and '70s.
It all changed in the '80s. In '82, with the recession, the industry started changing and it has changed ever since. Alpert and Moss were the last of the independent record companies. They've all been gobbled up by lawyers and accountants.
(Alpert and Moss) wielded enormous power.
Microscope Records hosted a party during the Bend Film Festival. Can you discuss how that was related to your business?
Armer: It was really good for us. We hosted the party for festival attendees before the awards ceremony.
It was a great party and we're doing business with some people from there.
What is the current focus of your business?
Armer: We're focused on getting our synchronization or 'sync' license that allows us to put a song in a movie, on cable, the Internet, any media. As Shane likes to say, we're building our business song by song rather than making full CDs, which can be an expensive proposition.
How big is the business?
Cook: By next summer we plan to represent 20 to 30 acts - solo and full bands. That is what is in our business plan. We have five to 10 now. I get about five or 10 demos a week.
What is the process of an act going from submitting a demo to signing a contract?
Cook: In the music community, we all keep in contact. With something new, someone who knows someone who knows someone and it's not long before it's on the East Coast. Nothing stays secret.
It doesn't operate like any other business. There is no book or proven method. The success stories are all different.
There is no course you can take in record-label management. (A demo that arrived today) could be in a movie by Wednesday, honestly. Or we could be working on it in the studio for six months.
Armer: You do it from a street level on up. The risk and reward factors are great.
We might as well be better off with pick axes and mules and mining for gold in the mountains. But this can happen. We can get a song into a film or develop an artist over three to five years and sign a six-figure deal. We are planning for success. We are not hoping it happens. With the experience that I have in the industry, Shane's background and our funding, we have as good a shot as any label in the world.
We have contacts in L.A., Nashville, New York and Europe and close friends whose full-time job is nothing but getting songs in films.
Where do you work?
Armer: I have a studio in my home but plan to move it to a commercial location. The most important thing is a good set of ears.
How do you know what is a good demo?
Armer: It's that magic. What gives you goosebumps — what makes you shiver — what makes the hair stand up on your arms. Shane is in his 20s, I'm in my 40s and our partner is in his 50s and that has its advantages. With a song, the story always comes first. If it's live and you can't hear the lyrics, you have to ask the artist, 'What's the story here? What are you singing about?'
How do you keep in touch with new music?
Armer: I could go downtown to the weirdest looking punk and ask him to name five things he's listening to and go to i-Tunes and and download them.
There are charts and reports online.
I can go to Barnes and Noble and get Billboard, Spin or Maxim Blender, a teen music magazine.
What are some of the long-term benefits of creating something as popular as 'Rise?'
Armer: Five or 10 years after it, nobody cared about it, but in 1995, rappers and hip-hop artists started sampling 'Rise.'
Just as with sounds and production styles, production techniques from back then are being used again. Artists pay $100,000 to $500,000 for a sample, and for a number-one song like ‘Rise' it's even more.
Puff Daddy, who now calls himself P. Diddy, sampled 'Rise.' I think the biggest reason that young rappers and hip-hop artists are sampling recordings from the ‘60s and ‘70s is because the drumbeat was done by a real drummer, playing a $10,000 drum kit into $60,000 microphone setup with one of the 10 best engineers in the world. Then, in the late '80s and '90s, there were the computerized drum machines and MIDI technology and when the fascination with that was over, people were searching Salvation Army stores for old vinyl.
Cook: Back in the day, people were spending one or two years in the studio getting things perfect.
Armer: You would spend three or four days just working on getting the snare sound right, until it was perfect.
What niche do you see the company filling in the next five or 10 years?
Armer: We're looking to do this a long time. We want to work with artists to make them viable and avoid the pitfalls. (Artists) can stay here after high school. They can say, 'Here's an entity I can work with,' and stay with their families and go to (Central Oregon Community College). They don't have to cross the mountains to all the sharks and maybe avoid those experiences.
Then when they are 20 or 22 they'll be 10 steps ahead of the others there who are saying, 'OK, now what do I do?'
That affects artists of all ages, especially young ones. We can help bring them success. And if they are successful, we'll be too
Andy has his own site at www.rotation.com.
Capt. Bacardi
We need more adventurous independents to challenge the majors. 
